How to Deal When You Break Up During the Holidays

The holidays are always crazy and can easily intensify the pressures that come with any relationship, new or old. Sometimes the pressure can be too much, and what is meant to be a joyous time turns into a time of frequent fighting and bickering, or worse—a breakup. So what happens if you have to endure a painful breakup in the middle of holiday season? You might have to spend a holiday alone, or even have the entire scene play out in front of your friends and family if it happens during, say, Christmas dinner. Either way, it's going to suck (like all breakups do), but it's not necessarily going to be any worse than any other time of year. Bear with me. Truthfully, there is no good time to break up. It's always going to suck no matter which way you slice it and no matter how unprepared you are. Although going through such an experience during peak holiday season may seem like the worst thing fathomable, I can say from experience that it is not as bad as you might surmise. In fact, better than the alternative. Instead of turning into a social hermit, feeling sorry for yourself, or

The holidays are always crazy and can easily intensify the pressures that come with any relationship, new or old. Sometimes the pressure can be too much, and what is meant to be a joyous time turns into a time of frequent fighting and bickering, or worse—a breakup.

So what happens if you have to endure a painful breakup in the middle of holiday season? You might have to spend a holiday alone, or even have the entire scene play out in front of your friends and family if it happens during, say, Christmas dinner. Either way, it's going to suck (like all breakups do), but it's not necessarily going to be any worse than any other time of year. Bear with me.

Truthfully, there is no good time to break up. It's always going to suck no matter which way you slice it and no matter how unprepared you are. Although going through such an experience during peak holiday season may seem like the worst thing fathomable, I can say from experience that it is not as bad as you might surmise. In fact, better than the alternative.

Instead of turning into a social hermit, feeling sorry for yourself, or feeling unbearably guilty about hurting someone you love, you have the support of the holiday season to lean on. You have the bright lights and fun-loving spirit of the city to warm and distract you. You have friends and family around and parties and dinners to attend. If you balance the time you spend wallowing on the couch watching sad movies and the time you spend hanging out with your old friends and going ice skating with your nieces and nephews, you'll have less time to be down in the dumps.

So instead of seeing a holiday breakup as a death sentence, see it as a blessing. Drag yourself to the dinners and parties and spend as much time with friends and family as you can. You may find yourself ready to conquer the new year by the time the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Starting the new year ready for the right person isn't the worst thing.

The worst thing, really, would be waking up on January 1 in a relationship that falls short of amazing.